A cutting board or cutting block is simply a piece of durable material with a relatively flat surface upon which an item may be placed to be cut with a knife. The cutting board protects an underlying surface--such as a countertop or kitchen appliance--from being scratched by the knife blade. The cutting board is also very useful for carrying the cut items to different locations within the workplace.
Cutting boards are common fixtures in most household and commercial kitchens. They vary in style and size from small, square, or circular planks of wood to ornate free-standing tables, and have been constructed from other materials including glass, plastic, and stone. Cutting boards have been equipped with slides and recessed into kitchen cabinets, made part of kitchen appliances such as dishwasher lids or stove tops, or mounted to the surface of the countertop. Several products currently employed as countertop veneer--Formica, for example--have scratch resistant properties allowing them to be used as cutting surfaces.
A number of adaptations of the traditional cutting board have developed, including boards with slotted cutting surfaces which hold knives when not in use, and cutting boards equipped with strainers removably mounted flush with the cutting surface to catch items as they are cut.
While cutting boards of various styles and presenting distinctive utilitarian and ornamental advantages are available both to culinary professionals and the average lay person, the existing designs of cutting boards have several drawbacks in common which limit their effectiveness and convenience, no matter how skilled the user may be.
It is very difficult to slice a multilayered item on the traditional cutting board. A person using two hands may hold the knife in one hand and part of the item to be cut in the other, but the remaining portion of the item will often be disheveled.
It is even more difficult to dice an item which is wet or slippery, or an item which is round, such as an onion or tomato, on the traditional cutting board. To dice such an item, a person must make a series of parallel cuts in each of three dimensions at ninety degree angles to one another. The first two series of cuts produce slices and julienne, the final series of cuts completing the dicing process. It is preferable if the slices and julienne can be held in the shape of the original item while the successive cuts are made, since this allows the entire item to be diced using the least number of total cuts and therefore the least time, in addition to presenting a more uniformly diced product and alleviating the need to scoop up several diced portions off the cutting board. In practice, however, it is usually necessary to restack the slices before making the julienne cuts, and with many items it is impossible to restack the julienne before dicing. Instead, a person must bundle a few of the julienne together at one time and dice them, and repeat the process several times. The result of this time consuming operation is often several unevenly diced portions scattered around the cutting board, each containing some undiced julienne strips. If the cutting board is too small, the diced product may spill over the countertop and floor when the person attempts to scoop up the portions or carry the board to another location.
Household culinary demands are infrequently so rigorous that a precisely uniform diced product is necessary, although one may be desired, considering the constraints of a particular recipe or the expectations of the chef. In a commercial environment and among competitive professionals, however, the preparation of haute or nouveau cuisine regularly requires perfection. And in any setting, convenience and efficiency are always preferred. When an inconvenient or cumbersome task must be performed repeatedly each day, or just once when time is of the essence, such annoyances are quickly transformed into aggravating nuisances.
Finally, the materials used to make most cutting boards are smooth and resilient to minimize scratching from the knife blade and make them easier to clean. As a result, the cutting surfaces of these boards become slick or slippery. If a tough or hard-to-cut item is placed on the board, such as a roast or turkey, the item will slide on the cutting board and be nearly impossible to slice evenly without considerable effort.
The cutting board of this invention presents several advantages over the traditional cutting boards. The incorporation of a vertical retaining member permits multilayered items to be pressed against a retention surface, so they will not shift or fall apart when they are being cut. Items which are slippery and round may still be thoroughly diced with a minimum number of cuts, because the retention surface prevents the item from losing its shape or disintegrating while being cut into slices or julienne strips.
The cutting board of this invention also provides an improved means to transport cut items from one location to another. The pocket formed in the joint between the vertical retaining member and the cutting surface may be used to carry diced portions without having them spill over the edge, and may be used as a convenient pouring spout when transferring those portions from the cutting board to a small mouthed container or cooking pot.
The cutting board of this invention is furthermore adaptable for use with a variety of cutting implements, and enhances a chef's ability to cut both large and tough or small and fragile items quickly and conveniently.